Chanel’s fall 2017 couture show featured a scale replica of the Eiffel Tower

Today in Paris, Karl Lagerfeld presented his Fall 2017 haute couture collection for Chanel. So how did Lagerfeld and co. transform the Grand Palais to fit their theme? Only by creating a scale replica of the Eiffel Tower in its centre, for models to strut around in Parisian-inspired finery. More on that below—check back later for Hamish Bowles’s review.

Kristen Stewart’s buzz cut made its couture debutChanel muse Kristen Stewart arrived in Paris to take in the couture show, turning heads in a black strapless catsuit. It was, of course, her frosted-tip pixie cut that got the most attention.

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The Eiffel Tower was Lagerfeld’s inspirationCompleted in 1889, the Eiffel Tower quickly became one of Paris’s most controversial structures. It was despised early on for its overt modernity, though with time it quickly became the most recognisable landmark for the city. The structure’s flared silhouette, as well as its modernist respect for materials, inspired Lagerfeld’s collection of shapely dresses and coats. The association was made clear with a replica of the tower at the centre of the Grand Palais.

Image: InDigital

Boater hats are officially backCoco Chanel’s favourite topper accompanied every look on the runway today. Lagerfeld’s latest iterations were made of various tweeds and leathers.

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Meet the new evening shoe: A patent leather thigh high bootEvery look was worn with a black patent leather boot. Some reached just to the calf, giving a contemporary twist to evening wear, though others inched all the way up models’ thighs.

Image: InDigital

A Cubist artist gets her dueThough it was Robert Delauney’s painting of the Eiffel Tower that was on the show’s invitation, his wife Sonia’s circular paintings were the inspiration for some of the patterns in the collection. The swirling shapes of her work were rendered in sequins and crystals on a series of evening dresses in bronzy rose and ivory colours.

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Don’t sleep on the make-upThough Chanel’s women this season edged on the restrained side of the spectrum, their eye makeup was anything but. Makeup artists used a whole palette of colours to create rainbow ombré lids, adding a bit of pop to the mostly somber colours of the looks.